I've always been interested in the different cheat devices that have been released in the past. I unfortunately have lost all of my cool devices to the sands of time, but I was wondering if anyone here wanted to share their unusual cheat devices or just talk about them in general.
The only unusual Cheat Devices I've had are the Action Replay MK3 for SNES which I've never actually used to cheat but just as an import converter, and the PS1 "CodeCard" which was some sort of Pro Action Replay knock off which I primarily used because it let you do the Swap Trick by just pressing Select to stop the disc motor. Other than that I've only had Game Genie and GameShark, neither are very unusual.
I'm kinda disappointed that for the last couple of console generations, there hasn't really been any "proper" cheat device, meaning one you can use to poke around for new stuff yourself, just the boring kind using prefabricated cheats. I realize it's gotten a lot harder to do, since unlike cartridge-based systems you now need your cheat engine to persist in memory, swap discs, then find a place to hook into the actual game's code (that's what the "master code" does)... But I think the devices' developers could've at least given us the possibility to search for our own codes after they engineered a master code for a given game.
As far as unusual cheat devices go, I was always intrigued by the proposed Sega CD Game Genie. As I remember the story, a device was intended to go into the Genesis/Megadrive expansion slot to intercept data transmitted between the CD drive and the main console. Skipping to the end, it was canceled due in large part to the high price they would have had to charge for the unit. I'm genuinely curious to know if any prototype units ever made it out into the wild.
It's because pretty much all modern systems have hypervisors to prevent unsigned code from running, i.e. cheat devices.
The PlayStation had the greatest cheat devices in my opinion. Personally I was more interested in the special features than in cheating. The Xploder Professional is my favourite. In combination with a computer you can upload demos, dump memory cards, dump the main memory, edit main memory in real time, grab video and audio ram, freeze the psx and with the X-Assist it was possible to search for codes without a computer. You can also flash Caetla on an Xploder which makes it the ideal device for developers. If you are looking for an unusual cheat device for a current gen system, have a look at the Datel Trainer Toolkit for the Nintendo DS: http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/DS/Trainer+Toolkit/news.asp?c=1385
True, but when you've got the cheat engine running, those have already been circumvented somehow. Adding at least a basic in-memory search function shouldn't be too much to ask at that point. Now that's what I'm talking about! Even better that what I asked for actually - live memory viewer, disassembler - really nice. Now if only we could get something similar for other systems too... (Not likely since the kind of "man-in-the-middle-interception" used here isn't really possible on disc-based consoles, but one can dream.) BTW, speaking of unusual ways to cheat: Not a cheating device per se, but I remember seeing a trainer for a "DOSbox'ed" game floating around somewhere. Meaning it targeted the VM emulator's process that was running the game in question instead of the game itself... Weird concept, but it worked (with a specific version of DB at least).
I think the problem with cheat devices in modern consoles is more frowned upon because they have online capabilities whereas everything before them had offline only; so if you cheated it only affected you whereas if you cheat now; it can affect a lot of people and can even have money involved when talking about competitions and whatnot.
Not being much of an online gamer, I'd never really thought about that. Makes sense though. Is cheating a problem in online console gaming? How common is it?
I've only used my SNES Action Replay MK2 & MK3 for import gaming (doesn't always work though) really. I have fooled around using the Action Replay Professional (N64) and Action Replay (GCN) however; moon jumping around in Banjo-Kazooie was quite interesting along with fighting on the bizarre test map in SSBM (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr4AWE_Pel8&feature=related).
Alot of cheating in online console games is related to exploiting programming glitches which alot of games tend to have. However some of it is related to modded consoles or devices modifying save game files to alter the game to give you some sort of advantage. Like in Call of Duty Modern Warfare you could change something to become invisible, walk through walls, invulnerable, have infinite ammo, etc.
The Xplo(d/r)er FX can do all of that too; it just doesn't include that X-Assist device. P.S.: How do you get Caetla onto the Xplo(d/r)er? I've scoured the web but documentation is scarce.
action replay does not let you to cheat online with games. so it wont let newer online games start after booting with the AR. the only thing stopping the game shark is the ver of ps2 you have. if your ps2 does not work you will get a screen saying this ps2 does not support this GS or something like that.
I used X-Killer 0.56. It supports Caetla 0.34 ROM. It should be possible to flash later versions of Caetla as well, but you may have to change the comm and language settings manually.
What PS2 cheat device will work with a 60GB PS3? I have read that the CodeBreaker 9.3 will, but I have yet to be able to confirm this. I have a number of GameShark's, but none of them will work on the 60 GB PS3. Not trying to hijack this thread at all - just need a little help in this area since we are on the topic. Thanks in advance.
Online has a LOT to do with it. Most PS2 online games were unplayable because you could still use Gameshark cheats. The Action Replay on Gamecube was the last console one that was worthwhile as far as I know.
Funny, I remember a video called "Thwarting Players Using Cheat Devices" from a SCEA DevCon, I guess the devs didn't really applied the advices, or Datel was better in keeping their devices working...
Yeah, a lot of people were complaining about those users that used their GameShark to raise hit points, exp....ect. On PSO on the Dreamcast But you could only use the GameShark codes when you where off line. Some how it detected a GameShark, it wouldn't let you log in. I had a GameShark for the PSX, PSX2, Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast and, for the N64. To bad too, I have all cheat devices but no place to look up codes for. I have some game cheat device for my Gamecube (I can't remember the name and it's in storage at the moment) , some Action Replay device for the Nintendo DS. You hook it up to your computer to update the software on the device and codes. Hugh
PSX Gamehunter, I think the best thing about it is the video player. The manual: http://www.consolesource.com/files/related_documentation/PSXIGMHCRT_game_hunter_instructions.pdf
